Rise
by Cheloya
Summary: ON HIATUS. Set post-Meteor, but not in the usual style. Cloud has been slain by Sephiroth, and the rest of AVALANCHE struggle to continue their quest to save the Planet. Previously 'What If Sephiroth Won'.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or concepts from FFVII. They are the property of Square-Enix. No infringement is intended. ^^

A/N: It occurred to me one night that Sephiroth was really, really powerful. (That's not as dense as it sounds, I promise. -.-) And that when I tried to beat Sephiroth on a really low level, I couldn't do it. So I started to wonder... what would happen then?

And then I got this. ^^; Enjoy!

Prologue

The Planet is trembling. This Aeris knows, even as she lies in eternal slumber at the bottom of a lakebed. She reaches out to the Planet, to her mother, and sees.

Cloud is surrounded by a glittering illusory world of stars, travelling through a vortex that pulses with light. He grips his sword tightly in one gloved hand, the other clenched into a fist. He does not know where he is, where he is going. He only knows that the lights are beautiful, and that here, somewhere, is Aeris.

The lights fade abruptly. Blue eyes, the startling shade of a Fatal Error screen, blink and then widen.

Sephiroth raises his sword.

And the sword falls.

Red envelops blue. Cloud's empty body collapses slowly. In the true world, a woman screams. Aeris reaches for his soul, not with her pale hands (for they are lying by her sides in the silt of the lake bottom) but with her own soul, seeking to bind him firmly to the Lifestream.

Cloud makes desperate snatches at Aeris as his progress slows. Their souls touch.

Jenova's presence oozes into the Lifestream like poison, and this time Aeris screams, too.

Far away, in the city of smoke, a young girl looks around her in confusion and fear. _The... flower lady?_ There is no one there. From the street? She trots to the window and is frightened by what she sees.

Raging pillars of fire run rampant through the slums of Midgar, destroying all that cross their path. They stretch from the Meteor to the Planet, a distance that is getting smaller by the second. She knows the Planet is doomed if the Meteor hits.

She squeezes her eyes tightly shut and prays as the Meteor falls.


	2. Chapter One

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or concepts from FFVII. I do own this idea.

A/N: I figured it'd be a bit mean to leave you with a half-page prologue and then make you wait forever for the next chapter. So now you get to wait an age for chapter two. ;)

Chapter One

The crater was silent. The Lifestream surge that had destroyed Meteor and saved the Planet seemed to have frightened or awed all life into stillness.

Or destroyed everything.

But hours after, in the depths of the night, something did start to move. The movements were slow and tortured, as though even breathing might cause pain, but something slowly struggled to its knees. After a brief rest, it got the rest of its way to its feet.

It was human.

She looked around the desolate crater and a choked sob escaped from her long, white column of a throat. "Cloud..." she moaned softly. Her wine coloured eyes held more sadness than all the Midgar slums, and her gloved hands tightened themselves into fists as she tried to stifle her sobs. This wasn't the time. The others, they might still be alive...

Oh, _Cloud_...

Tears rose in her eyes and ran unchecked down her cheeks. She had to look for the others, all her friends. If they were still alive, maybe the pain of Cloud's passing would ease a little. She knew she would feel better when she found them.

She just had to. Nothing inside her could stand feeling this way for long.

She turned her head and felt pain in her back, tugging agony along her spine and into the nape of her neck. She hissed at the pain, as though that could make it less. She chose a direction and took a step.

Her limbs felt weak and watery, and the burning along her spine didn't stop. She felt a twinge of fear.

Raising her arms before her caused a more pronounced burn. Trying to kick at anything produced a short burst of agony that made black splotches intrude on her vision. She collapsed to her knees in the icy rock debris of the crater and tried to understand what this might mean.

I might just be tired from all this fighting. I've never fought so hard in my life. It might just be that I tested myself a little too hard.

I might never be able to fight and protect what I love again.

She gritted her teeth and, tears stinging the corners of her eyes, she pushed herself to her feet and continued on. She wrapped her arms around herself and noticed for the first time that she was covered in blood. It had sprayed her white tank top, run down past her skirt and all down her legs to pool in her boots and stain her grey socks a dark, rusty brown. She caught her breath. Was it... was it her blood, or someone else's? She couldn't... couldn't quite recall...

__

Cloud was walking slowly closer to the Lifestream, staggering down the rocky tiers to the edge of the hissing, steaming green. He dropped to his knees. She called and called to him, but he didn't seem to hear her.

Sephiroth surged out of the Lifestream and removed Cloud's head with one swipe of the Masamune.

She screamed. She screamed long and loud and everyone heard her. Eyes as green as the Lifestream and as cold as a serpent's fixed onto her, and Sephiroth lunged, his blade a silver arc. She felt the barest of snicks as it severed her spine, and then all was surging warmth and darkness.

Tifa shuddered. So Sephiroth had tried to kill her. Tried... surely she was dead? She was supposed to be dead. After something like that, she had to be dead. She looked down to where dried blood had crusted on her stomach, and saw a scar. All the way across her stomach. She followed it with her hands to where her eyes could not see, and found that it ran around her body in a circle, crossing a knot of pain in her spine.

Like someone had just hacked right through her.

Tifa looked around the crater once more. If she was still alive after what had happened, then surely the others were all right. She cupped both her hands to her mouth and sucked in a great lungful of air.

"BARRET! CID! RED! CAIT! YUFFIE! VINCENT!" And, after a moment's hesitation. "CLOUD!"

Her voice echoed around the crater. She frowned and opened her mouth to call again, when faintly, from the distance, she heard an answering voice.

"TIFA... THAT YOU?"

The bellow, though faint, was most definitely Barret's. Tifa started to run in the direction of the voice, but slowed to a walk almost immediately as the pain in her back flared. "I'm coming, Barret!" She hollered.

From the faintness of his voice, she had assumed that Barret would be a long way away. In reality, he was only about two hundred metres away, hidden behind a collection of boulders. He was glancing about him warily, and even though she was far away, she held her breath at the sight of his face.

Blood was crusted all over it, from his eyebrows down. The blood appeared to have sealed his eyes closed, for he didn't react as though he had seen her. She called to him again. "Barret!"

The big black man jumped. This in itself was a worrying turn of events. Barret never jumped, even when he was startled. Still, his head turned in the direction of her voice. "Tifa. Tifa, you okay?"

She dropped to her knees and threw her arms around the brawny man. "I have never been so glad to see you in my life." She told him honestly, her voice trembling. "I'm fine. Are you okay?"

"Can't see a damn thing." Barret muttered. "All this blood must've dried my eyes closed or something. They hurt. That Sephiroth musta hit me pretty damn hard."

Tifa made a troubled noise in her throat. "I think he cut me in half. I've got... I've got this scar all around my waist. Higher than the one he left last time." She rested her hand on his arm. "I'm sure you'll be okay. We'll just have to soak off all the blood – I have it all over me, too."

"In half?" Barret sputtered. "Damn, girl! What th' hell am I worryin' about my eyes for?"

Tifa rested her forehead against the man's shoulder for a moment, smiling in gratitude that the Planet had seen fit to leave at least one of her friends alive. "I told you, I'm fine. Just a little stiff." She stood up, and tugged on his hand. "Come on. We need to go look for the others. They have to be around here somewhere."

Barret hauled himself to his feet. "You'll have t' lead me. I dunno where the hell I am."

Tifa took his hand and placed it on her shoulder. "Just so long as you keep your safety on while you're behind me." She told him. "I think I can see some light further down in the crater. It might be Red XIII."

In fact, it was Red and Vincent. Tifa nearly bit through her lip when she saw the state the gunman was in. Though his dark clothing hid the bloodstains, nothing could hide the bloody, gory mess that had been made of his right arm. The hand had been sliced clean off, leaving him with only his brass claw. He looked up at Tifa with empty red eyes, and she realised the pain he must be in.

"Barret, we've found Vincent and Red. Vincent's lost his hand."

"He'll be happy with that." Barret muttered. "Always seemed to hate the damn thing."

"The other one." Tifa murmured. Barret made a soft 'hmm' sound and fell quiet. Vincent raised his claw at them, and Red turned. Tifa wondered with a frown why he hadn't heard them coming.

"Vincent. Red." She greeted them. "Are you both...?" She paused. 'All right' seemed a bit redundant under the circumstances.

"As you see." Vincent said, holding up his arm pointedly. "However, Red seems to be suffering from lack of hearing. Is Barret blinded?"

Tifa shrugged. "We won't know until we soak off all the blood." She tapped Barret's hand, and he removed it from her shoulder, then crouched down to take Red XIII's head in her hands. "Nanaki?" She asked softly, looking down at him.

"It's no use, Tifa. I can't hear you." Red's words were slightly slurred, and a little louder than he meant them to be. His good eye was glowing fiercely, but he seemed sad. She stroked his mane and kissed his forehead.

"Don't worry. We'll find a way to fix this." She said slowly, making sure he could read her lips. Red cocked his head at her, and nodded his head slowly in understanding.

"Have either of you seen Cloud, Cid or Yuffie?" Vincent asked. Tifa closed her eyes tightly for a moment to stave off tears.

"I think Cloud is really dead. Yuffie and Cid might still be around... and Cait Sith."

Vincent shook his head. "We found his remains not too far in that direction." He raised his claw again, apparently not too fond of the sight of the gore attached to his right arm. "Reeve is probably still alive, but the robot he used is decimated."

Tifa reflected that words like 'decimated' really made her feel bad. She got to her feet. "All right... you two came from that direction, and we came from this one. Barret, you stay here with Red XIII. Vincent and I will go in opposite directions and look for Yuffie and Cid."

Barret nodded to show he understood, and sat down. Red cocked his head at Tifa, and was motioned to stay where he was as the woman started off in one direction. "We'll meet back here in an hour, no more, okay? If we haven't found them by then... we'll come up with something else."

Vincent turned and walked off in the opposite direction, the wind catching his cloak and making it flit past his legs. He glanced around, and started off in a likely direction. It occurred to him that it would be a good idea to call for his missing friends, in case they were awake and cognizant. It also occurred to him that without his trigger finger, he was going to have to rely upon his claw a lot more. He looked down at it in distaste, blocking out the throbbing in his other arm with the ease of practice. He didn't want to have to use the artificial limb in battle any earlier than he had to. Particularly not on the fiends that prowled the crater, as they were stronger than most.

However, after half an hour of searching, Vincent was getting more worried than he cared to admit. Cid was loud and crude, but he was a friend. And he did not like to think of the young, vibrant ninja as gone... she had too much life to be dead. Therefore, she must be alive. Vincent allowed himself the tiniest and bitterest of smiles. He was nothing if not a master of self-delusion.

"Cid! Yuffie!" He yelled into the depths of the crater. No answer. He shrugged. She must either be unconscious or not close enough to hear him. He kept walking, issuing the same terse calls every fifty metres or so. He received no answers.

Just as he was about to turn around and head back toward Barret and Red XIII, he caught a sliver of movement at the corner of his eye. He whirled to view it properly and saw Yuffie waving frantically at him as she moved slowly closer. It appeared she was limping. He decided to save her the trouble of making her way to him, and set off across the scree at a brisk jog. Yuffie halted her efforts to move when she saw him coming.

Why didn't she call out to get my attention? Vincent wondered.

"Are you hurt?" He asked when he was near enough.

Yuffie's jaw was tight, and she blinked furiously for a moment. She pointed to her foot – her ankle was indeed twisted. Vincent was momentarily distracted by its horrible shade of purple and green, but he looked back at her face and cocked his head at her.

"...why don't you speak?"

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again they were brimming with tears. She made a few short gestures at her throat, and mouthed some words.

__

I can't talk. I'm mute.

After that she dissolved into tears, her voiceless sobs sounding like nothing but heavy, irregular breathing. Vincent watched her miserably. Of all the people to be silenced, it had been Yuffie.

Certainly, he had considered doing it himself once or twice – doubtless, so had the other members of AVALANCHE – but never seriously.

Though he was loath to touch her with his claw, he raised it toward her. "Do you need me to carry you back to the others?"

Her tears eased for a moment, and he saw hope light in her eyes.

__

They're okay? She mouthed. Vincent paused, and nodded.

"Barret, Red and Tifa are all mostly unharmed. Tifa went the other way, looking for Cid. Cait Sith is smashed."

Yuffie's face fell. _And Cloud?_

"It would seem Cloud is dead."

Vincent saw no need to lie to the girl, but as her face fell and her eyes froze over, he wondered if the harsh truth had been such a good idea. He grasped her lightly beneath her arm and hauled her to her feet. "Come, Yuffie. The rest are alive." He said, more gently than usual.

Yuffie's lower lip trembled again. Unable to speak, she buried her face into Vincent's shoulder in wordless gratitude for his unusual kindness. Then she pulled back and looked at him questioningly. _Which way?_

Vincent forgot, and pointed with his newly severed arm. Yuffie gasped. He hid it in the folds of his cloak again, but not before she had let out a soundless exhalation of shock and pulled a Hi-Potion out from... well, he didn't know where she'd gotten it from. She stood for a few moments, giving him a demanding look, and eventually stuck her hand into the folds of cape and pulled out Vincent's arm. He gritted his teeth – the whole forearm was tender – but allowed her to pour the Hi-Potion carefully over it. The flesh sizzled and smoked for a moment, but when it cleared, the limb was relatively clean.

Vincent once again hid the shapeless lump in his cloak, where it would not bother him, and gave Yuffie the arm with the claw. They started walking.

*

Red saw them first. He sent out a long, victorious howl that ended up forlorn and lost in the mists of the crater. Yuffie summoned enough energy to wave and bounce a few times, and then went back to hobbling along beside Vincent.

The tight muscles in Vincent's body relaxed ever so slightly when he saw the Cid and Tifa were sitting with Barret and Red around the tiny flame of Red's tail. Tifa stood up, looking as though she would run towards them, but refrained at the last second. Yuffie made a little choking noise in her throat, like she was trying not to cry. Vincent didn't look at her. She was too proud to let anyone watch her cry twice.

"Yuffie, are you okay?" Tifa enfolded the girl in her arms as soon as they arrived at the campsite. Yuffie shook her head and looked at Vincent for help. The red-cloaked man's face was like stone.

"She can't speak."

There was nothing Tifa could say to that. Yuffie would have found it ironic if she hadn't been so upset. She hugged Tifa, and smiled weakly at the older woman. _It's okay. I'm fine._ Tifa smiled back, and Yuffie looked around to the rest of the group, questioningly. Tifa whispered, "Barret's blind. Red can't hear anything. Cid keeps coughing up blood."

Yuffie sighed heavily. She looked at Tifa. The dark-haired woman tried to be strong. "I'm all right. My back hurts." Yuffie poked her stomach, right on the scar. Tifa looked at her. Yuffie mouthed, _neat_.

Tifa burst out laughing and hugged the girl tightly, despite the roar of agony in her back. It could have been worse. It could have been so much worse. Yuffie's voice was an important part of the team. Sometimes it was like it kept their hearts alive. It was gone now. But Yuffie was still Yuffie, and she still made the Yuffie things clear. Tifa felt tears of happiness sting her eyes, and a strange sense of gratitude tightened her heart in her chest. Part of her mind demanded what she had to be grateful for right now, but most of her hugged Yuffie even tighter.

***

A few hours later, their pathetic fire had died down to a few embers that flared stubbornly brighter the stronger the wind blew, as though trying to work up the courage to burst into flame once more. For the first hour or so, they'd kept glancing around suspiciously, as though the world was still going to end any minute. They'd been pumped. Thrilled and terrified at the same moment, hearts beating faster and faster.

Now they waited with relentless apathy. Only Cid's hacking cough broke the silence, but he muted them as much as he could. Yuffie watched the pilot with barely concealed worry in her grey eyes. She could live the rest of her life like this – not that that was likely to be a lengthy span, she reflected with humour that surprised her – but Cid didn't look as though he could cope so well. It was like he was greying around the edges. Fading.

Yuffie curled closer to Red XIII, fisting her right hand in his mane. The large, lion-like creature raised his head and looked back at her questioningly. She couldn't hide the fear and disquiet in her eyes. Nanaki managed to convey a great deal of understanding through his single golden eye, though he couldn't have heard her even if she'd spoken. He shifted slightly and lay his great shaggy head on her knees, letting out a rumbling purr. Yuffie pat his head absently. It barely even sounded forced.

It scared her that Cid looked this weak. It scared her that he wasn't smoking. He was normally like a miniature blond hurricane, surrounded by his cloud of grossness smoke. She'd _hated_ the smell of his cigarettes. But even more than that, she hated the thought of never having to smell them again.

Her fingers tightened in Red's mane again, and she barely restrained a sob. Red lifted his head to try to comfort her, but before he could do anything, she scrambled across the middle of their huddled circle to cling to Cid. The pilot looked surprised, and that started him coughing again, but he stroked her hair and tried to speak soothingly as she sniffled into the collar of his weathered blue jacket.

Vincent watched this from the opposite side of the fire. His eyes were dulled to the point of being completely unreadable, except for perhaps the sliver of pain that kept breaking through his consciousness. His arm hurt. It really, really hurt. He couldn't drag his mind away from the undeniable fact that it hurt unbearably.

On the one hand, perhaps the pain was a good thing. Surely Chaos did not feel pain. Perhaps the strength of the agony meant that the demon had receded into true dormancy. But Vincent knew that this was not the case, even as he hoped it.

He needed something to take his mind off the utter wrongness of his arm – something else to do, something else to cope with. He looked around their circle.

Red kept twitching, twisting his head around to see what he could not hear. Barret's eyelids were half-open, as though he were trying to see, but the pain that must have been affecting him was too much to allow such a thing. Yuffie wept into Cid's jacket, and the pilot thumped her back gently in between bouts of coughing. Tifa's cheek rested on her knees. Vincent knew it had taken her about ten minutes to persuade her muscles to bend that way. She was staring off into nothingness. She resembled a statue in that he could see nothing in her eyes. She was numb. Of all of them, Tifa was the one who was never, ever supposed to be numb.

"It's nearly morning." The words spilled from his lips before he could stop them. "Nothing has happened yet."

Barret's head turned almost convulsively in Vincent's direction, latching onto the sound. Tifa didn't even blink. That fact alone made anger curl in Vincent's stomach, hot and tangible.

"We cannot sit here and wait for the world to end after everything we have endured." He said matter-of-factly.

"And whaddaya think we should do?" Barret demanded. "We can't do shit any more." He clenched his jaw then, as though admitting it hurt him. Vincent's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. Tifa slowly stirred herself and looked at him.

"I don't think we can do very much any more." She agreed softly.

Vincent remained silent, but he stared hard at Cid. The man shook his head slowly. Yuffie sat up and looked at Vincent across the remains of the fire. In the dark, he could see her perfectly, but he doubted she had his night vision. She nodded her head once at him. It said a thousand things, but the one thing he picked up was, I'm with you. I'm with you, even if no one else is.

Reassured, he said, "We cannot sit and do nothing. We can still do much. If Sephiroth is still alive..."

Tifa's lips pursed thoughtfully. Barret shook his head stubbornly. Yuffie got up and hobbled to the tall black man, tugged at his arm, then dug her gloved fingers into her own arms, frustrated with her inability to speak. _Marlene!_ She mouthed to Vincent.

"...what about Marlene, Barret?" He didn't want to be the one to say it, but it had to be said. The girl was Barret's weak point. Yuffie knew that, but she couldn't use it right now, and that left him to be the one to inflict the pain.

"@#$% you." Barret muttered. "I know all about Marlene."

Vincent looked at Yuffie, who scowled and punched Barret in the arm. She hobbled over to sit beside Vincent and sulked furiously. Cid smirked. "I'm crazy, but I'll come with ya. Crazy bastards. I'll do what I can."

Tifa looked up into the sky. "...Cloud." She murmured. "It _is_ nearly morning. We need help before we can do anything. Let's head south. Maybe we'll find someone who can give us supplies."


	3. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or concepts from FFVII. They belong to Square Enix. No infringement is intended.

****

Chapter Two

It took longer than it should have to get out of the crater. The monsters that were brave enough to venture out in search of prey were powerful and sure of themselves. It scared Tifa to admit that Yuffie and Red were their best assets. She could barely move at anything faster than a walk. Barret and Cid were out of the picture as far as battling was concerned. Vincent could make use of his Limit Breaks, but his gun was nearly useless dangling from his claw. He could pull the trigger, but he couldn't have hit the broad side of a Behemoth. (Though Cid had made the sarcastic comment that being blind might actually help the black man's aim.)

By the time they reached the edge of the crater, Yuffie and Red were sore and gasping. It would have made Tifa feel better to hear Yuffie complain, but that was impossible now. They had tried to use materia, but even though Tifa knew she had plenty of MP left, she couldn't use it. They had to find somewhere to rest and heal.

When they finally clambered over the edge, Red let out a startled bark, and Cid gasped so forcefully that he started coughing again. The Highwind looked like a forcefully deflated steel balloon – a twisted heap of metal lying smoking and ruined on the black rocks of the North Continent. The deck was tilted crazily to one side, and the still body of one of the crew members was doubled around one of the safety bars. Cid made a choking sound in his throat through his coughs. Tifa tore her eyes away from the wreckage to see tears tracking down his weathered face.

"Oh Cid...!" She said, voice filled with sympathy. She wrapped her arms around the old pilot, and he clutched at her back with one arm, pale blue eyes fixed on the crushed shell of his beloved airship.

Yuffie couldn't bear the emptiness in his eyes. She looked away, down the slope of the crater, and she blinked. She waved her arms frantically at Vincent, since he seemed to be the only one looking in her direction. He blinked. "What is it, Yuffie?"

She pointed down the slope, and the group peered in that direction. Down below them, amidst the dark chunks of rock and rubble, they could see five coloured blotches and one darker patch moving around in an odd bouncing rhythm.

"Are those...?" Red asked slowly.

Vincent confirmed the suspicions of everyone who could see the blotches. "Chocobos."

Yuffie started to move down the slope towards the birds. Red bounded from rock to rock, a triumphant expression in his eyes. He darted around behind the birds and guided them towards AVALANCHE. Yuffie's bird, Falla, let out a delighted squawk as soon as she saw her mistress and raced up the slope towards her. Yuffie flung her arms about the Chocobo's neck and did a little victory jig as Falla warbled conversationally over her mistress' head.

The other Chocobos milled uncertainly before their owners. Tifa moved forward to give her green a reassuring pat, and then moved to stand before Cloud's golden bird. She worked her hands into the feathers on its neck and scratched it gently, making the bird dip its whole body and coo encouragingly. Her eyes were closed, but her lips were trembling as she fought to keep back tears. She leaned into the bird as her hands fell to her sides. The gold glanced about in confusion and let out a querulous warble. Tifa wished there was a way to tell Boco that Cloud was not coming back.

The remaining three Chocobos greeted their respective owners with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Cid's blue knocked the pilot's head back and forth obnoxiously with his beak until he was forced to come out of his stunned state and wrestle with the bird's bridle to stop it from annoying him. Barret's – well, Marlene's – Mr Fuzzy stood impatiently before his owner until, fed up, it bent to bat Barret's good arm about with its head. Barret flinched, but rested his hand on the bird's feathered crest and smiled grimly. Vincent stood in front of Obsydia, his black, and stared at her a little helplessly. How could he make her understand that he couldn't touch her any more for fear of harming her or himself? The bird turned her head on the side and regarded him with one large, placid blue eye. She lowered her head to rub her beak against both sides of his face affectionately, and stood by patiently, apparently unaffected by the crash.

Tifa finally gathered herself and said, "I suppose we should head for the coast... or Glacier Village. What do you think, Cid?" She turned purposefully to the pilot, trying to get his mind away from his destroyed airship. Cid made a lukewarm sound, and then grit his teeth.

"'s probably useless to go to Glacier Village. Their shipments were cut off when Reeve evacuated the plate." He grunted. "Let's just head straight for the coast."

Tifa stroked Kirato's neck for a few moments, then nodded and swung herself onto the Chocobo's back. "All right then. Are we all ready to go?"

Barret snorted. "Ain't much else t' do, now, is there? Y'all have to make sure to keep me on track, now, y'hear?" Cid and Yuffie climbed onto their Chocobos. Red prowled behind Boco and Mr Fuzzy, trying to get in position to herd the birds.

Vincent was left standing next to Obsydia, staring hard at the bridle and wondering how he was supposed to mount. And, if he managed to do that, how he was supposed to hold on to anything. His shoulders slumped slightly. "I... do not think that I can do this alone." He muttered, lowering his eyes. Tifa looked as though she wanted to punch herself.

"Oh, I'm sorry Vincent." She murmured, eyes stricken. "I'll help you on..."

Vincent shook his head. "It will do no good for you to strain your back... and I do not think I can ride by myself either." He said defeatedly. "I am sure you will have to return here. I will walk to Glacier Village and wait for you there."

Tifa started to protest. Yuffie slid off Obsydia and walked over to Vincent as he stared blankly into the distance, obviously disquieted by the depth of his uselessness. She then made it her mission to get in his face until he finally made a sound of annoyance. "What are you doing?" He demanded irritably. She pointed to Obsydia, her eyes narrowing threateningly. Her lips moved, and she stomped her foot pointedly.

__

Don't even start.

She waved her arms at Cid until he too slid to the ground, and then she herself clambered onto Obsydia. The bird and rider each shifted uncomfortably for a few moments, each unaccustomed to the other. But Obsydia eventually settled down, and Yuffie grabbed a handful of Vincent's cloak to keep him from sidling away from her while she mouthed and made gestures at Cid to the effect of 'help me get Vinnie's fat butt onto the Chocobo'. Vincent was sure he had never been more wretchedly embarrassed in his life as when Cid and Yuffie started to heave him onto the bird. Yuffie had to twist herself very oddly to make sure that the gunman was settled behind her and then she placed Vincent's claw comfortably about her waist, completely unperturbed by the blade-like digits that were very close to her vital organs. She clicked her fingers and made a clicking sound with her mouth, and Falla cocked her head at the sound. She pulled up alongside Obsydia and Yuffie rummaged for a few moments in the saddlebag. She finally came up with a short length of rope, and with this proceeded to knot Vincent securely to the saddle and to herself. When she was finished, she flung out her arms in a 'tah-dah!' motion, and Tifa smiled.

"Good idea, Yuffie. Are you okay, Vincent?"

The gunman nodded morosely. He had flung out his newly severed arm in an attempt to gain some stability and balance, but as Obsydia shifted nervously in accordance with his own emotions, he found that it was a useless battle. Still, he could feel the firmness of Yuffie's practiced knots, and the confidence in the ninja, and he slowly calmed. As he relaxed slowly, so did Obsydia, finally standing placidly beside the blue and glancing about in blithe disconcern.

Cid swung himself back aboard his blue and coughed several times. After that, he tucked his chin down and stifled them stubbornly. "Let's get this show on the road." He muttered hoarsely. Tifa kicked Kirato into action, and the group started off over the snowfields. Yuffie waited patiently for Vincent to relax for the first mile or so as he crushed his claw arm paranoidly about her stomach. He was so tense, she could have shattered an axe on him. She let go of the reins with one hand and started tapping a pattern on the metal of Vincent's claw. It took him a few minutes for him to recognise 'SOS', at which point he abruptly loosened his grip. Yuffie gulped in a deep breath of air and glanced back over her shoulder at him. Vincent sighed.

"Sorry." He muttered. She shrugged and patted the claw reassuringly. She left her hand there until they needed to climb the next ridge on their way south, then moved it to Obsydia's neck to scratch it reassuringly as they climbed. Vincent felt the lurches and lapsed into disconcerted misery. Why were the gods always so very much against him? It seemed that every time he was near to succeeding in whatever goal he had ascribed himself, he suffered a crippling loss. It was no wonder he had slept for so long in the Shinra Mansion. What could a man lose in slumber?

The demon, being the obnoxious smart-aleck it was, noted that he could have gone into entropy, died of a number of environment-related conditions, or just suffocated. Vincent whole-heartedly wished that he was dead.

Well, he reflected as Yuffie returned her hand to resting companionably atop his claw, perhaps not quite whole-heartedly. Though it had no doubt been unwise, he had attached himself to these people, and he owed it to them not to die or be further maimed. He didn't quite understand why, but they did care for him.

His thoughts drifted to Cloud and Aeris, lost to this cause. Vincent found himself hoping that Cait Sith's creator lived still, though it was nearly impossible. Meteor would have destroyed the city by now. Vincent stifled his hopes firmly, knowing that at any time he could be horribly disappointed. Obsydia paused to rest at the top of the rise, and Vincent's eyes scanned the coastline for any hint of life. Away to the west, smoke still rose from the fires in Glacier Village. That at least was something. Yuffie let out a sigh at the sight, though it sounded mostly contented. He opened his mouth to ask her and memory stopped him. He was a fool to forget her affliction. It would make things very difficult.

"We'll purchase some paper, so that you can write your words down." He said without preamble. Yuffie seemed to snap to attention, as though her mind had been wandering, and then she shook her head sadly. "Why not?"

Her fingers resumed their tapping. _I... only... write... Wutaian,_ Vincent translated from morse code in his head. He blinked. "You know the language, or you wouldn't be able to talk like this."

__

Know... equivalents. Can't... read... or... write... letters.

Vincent tilted his head. "Write in Wutaian."

This time Yuffie turned to look at him as though he were crazy. _How is that going to help?_ She mouthed, bewildered. The part of Vincent's mind that was in control came to the slightly belated realisation that she did not know everything about his occupation as a Turk, and was not likely to know, ever. His eyes lit with bitter amusement.

"I understand Wutaian." He told her in an offhand manner, enjoying the sight of surprise and then the delight in her eyes. She grinned widely at him and, to his very great surprise, twisted to snuggle her head into his shoulder briefly. Her eyes were shining when she retreated. Her mouth moved in strange Wutaian syllables and it took Vincent a while to comprehend what she was saying. **_Oui'na cu luum, suhcdan syh_**. _You're so cool, monster man_. It was the more affectionate nickname she used with him, when she was in an exceptionally good mood, or when he was being particularly sociable. Vincent sighed, at once chilled by the thought that she belived him to be 'luum', and warmed by it.

"**Frydajan**, Yuffie."

Her back shivered in a silent giggle, and she spurred Obsydia into a dash, passing all the other Chocobos – at least until Boco and Falla rose to the challenge. Without riders, they were much faster than the rest of the group, stretching out their necks before them to minimise air resistance and leaving Red to lope patiently in their wake, still carefully guiding Mr Fuzzy as Barret clung nervously to his bird's neck. Yuffie gave the lion-like creature a long look before deciding that he could go at a faster speed for much longer before he had to rest.

Vincent hung on as tightly as he could without hurting her. Though he was usually perfectly comfortable astride a Chocobo, without at least one hand to control things, he was at a bit of a loss. Still, eventually he grew to trust Yuffie's careful knots and relaxed against them, and against her.

That made Yuffie happier than he could see. She'd been sitting against a washboard for the whole trip, and then slowly she had noticed the muscles unknotting. It was much more comfortable with Vincent sitting comfortably than it was with him twitchy.

She was equally glad of the Chocobos on which they travelled. The fiends on the way to the edge of the crater had totally wiped her out. She wasn't so used to fighting with Red XIII, and that made it hard. She also wasn't used to not being able to use her materia, and that made it harder, particularly after all the trouble she had gone to in order to secure the lot of it for Wutai when the war was over. She pouted at no one in particular. Just her luck.

Still, just how lucky was it that Vincent understood Wutaian? That was so totally cool it made her feel like she was going to explode. She'd always known that Vincent was the cool one. Even when he was being stupid and boring and mopey and... okay, maybe cool was the wrong word. Still, she was happy that at least he would understand her. Not that he'd been having trouble with that _before_ she worked out he could speak Wutaian... she gave him a curious look over her shoulder and felt him stiffen slightly under her scrutiny. She smiled and patted his claw and felt him relax again.

She wondered if his other arm hurt him. Her throat felt really... weird, and it ached sometimes. But she wasn't sure if that was from trying to suppress tears about Cloud, about the rest of the world, or from the wound itself. She tapped out another message for Vincent as they rode.

**__**

Tuac ed rind?

Vincent was silent for a while, and she frowned and tapped the question out for him again, in case he'd missed it the first time. He stopped her halfway through.

"It does hurt, Yuffie, but not as much at used to. More than that, it feels strange."

**__**

Tet dryd rybbah fedr dra udran uha?

"...yes, it is a similar sensation to when I lost my other hand." Vincent replied, a little sadly. There was a lengthy pause. "I find it amazing that you still manage to speak so much without your voice." He said, a hint of amusement working its way into his voice.

Yuffie was about to tap out a scathing reply when out of the corner of her eye, she saw the barest glimmer from the ocean away to the east. She stared hard at it, and then hammered her hand down on Vincent's claw excitedly, pointing out to sea. She tugged hard on the reins and Obsydia stopped with a loud squawk of protest. She heard Barret swear loudly as Mr Fuzzy took his own cue and slid to a stop as well.

Vincent craned his neck and followed her line of sight. He squinted at a strangely metallic glint on the ocean, and focused hard on the metal object. What...?

Cid let out a loud whoop. "That's my baby! It's the T-Tiny Bronc-co!" He errupted into loud, heavy coughs, but his expression had lifted once more into stubborn cheer. "Damn, Shera's a smart one." He practically glowed with pride, but whether in his ship or his housemate the rest of AVALANCHE wasn't quite sure. "Hey, let's go!"

Barret started to yell in protest, but Cid took off down the slope without paying any attention to what the massive black man had to say. Unfortunately for Barret, Mr Fuzzy was a particularly sheep-like Chocobo, and he followed straight after Cid's blue, Barret bouncing and swearing on his back all the way down the slope.

Yuffie's breathing went suddenly pear-shaped, and Vincent was alarmed before he realised it was another silent giggle. She took off after Cid, one arm shot up into the sky triumphantly. Vincent gripped her waist more tightly as they descended the slope at roughly the speed of light, and continued to hang on tightly until they had reached the cliffs at the edge of the continent. They then turned east to travel along the cliffs to the only bay on the continent.

Shera had been far closer to the bay than they were, and when they arrived, she was dragging a large backpack and a small vehicle laden with other equipment from the Tiny Bronco. Cid hollered to her as soon as he broke from the forest on his Chocobo. She turned, eyes wide, barely daring to hope.

"Sheraaaa!"

It was like a scene from the sappy movies Tifa loved so much. They ran towards each other across that vast expanse of green, Shera's hair streaming out behind her. Now admittedly, since Shera always kept her hair in a tight ponytail, there was not much streaming involved, and had Cid been running and not on Chocobo, he would have had a massive coronary after the first hundred metres. But when they finally reached each other and Shera leapt at Cid and dragged him off his Chocobo to envelope him in a tight hug, it was like the final scene in an exceptionally bad romantic comedy.

Tifa wiped at happy tears and cursed her bleeding heart.

Shera was crying, too, hanging from Cid and sobbing his name over and over again. "I knew it! I knew you weren't dead. I knew you couldn't be dead. Oh, Cid!"

He held her quietly, his chin resting atop her head, his eyes closed as though embracing Shera was the most comfortable, easy thing in the world. "It's all right, Shera... it's okay..."

Yuffie would have given both her arms and her left leg to be able to make a loud, disruptive 'aww' at that moment.

Instead she grinned as widely as it was possible for her to grin, her cheeks aching with the pressure, and swung herself off of Obsydia. She couldn't seem to bring herself to take her eyes off Cid and Shera, even as she untied the knots that held Vincent in the saddle. She frowned slightly when she realised that she had somehow managed to knot her fingers into the mess, and then decided it might help to actually watch what she was doing. Vincent shook his head at this, and tried to avoid watching the pair. It seemed to make things deep within him hurt.

Shera could not be pried completely away from Cid, particularly after she discovered how bad his lungs were. However, once they had calmed her down and let her confiscate all of Cid's cigarettes, she seemed to have a lot to tell them.

"As you can see, Meteor isn't a problem any more. However, there have been attacks on several towns by a large monster that Reeve thinks is Jenova-based." She informed them, adjusting her spectacles on her nose. "I came to see if I could find you... but that's not the only reason. Mr Wallace, after Meteor was destroyed, Marlene sank into a sort of fever. She's fine, she's absolutely fine," she added at Barret's dangerous expression, "But she told us some things... we have to go straight back to Midgar. She said she needed to tell you all in person. Something's wrong."

"Damn straight somethin's wrong. My baby don't say nothin' about 'in person'. She's too young." Barret growled. "Is that you speakin', or her?"

Shera sighed worriedly. "That's what I meant. Those were her exact words. She woke up from the fever long enough to say she had to tell you something, and then she went back to sleep."

Barret scowled. "Then what the #$% we standin' around for, foo'? Can you get me t' Midgar in that rust bucket?"

Cid gave the man a look the rest of the group was glad he couldn't see. "She ain't a rust bucket, she's my baby, and she can take you wherever the #$% you want to go!" He declared loyally.

Yuffie jumped up and down a few times and pumped her fist in the air. She then walked over to Vincent and tapped repeatedly on his arm. He gave them all a wry look. "Yuffie would like us to move out." She gave him an evil look and pulled back her arm to threaten him with a right hook. Vincent closed his eyes primly and said, "Her exact words were, _let's get this party started._"

A/N: Please review and let me know what you think. Next chapter is on its way fairly soon.


	4. Chapter Three

Disclaimer: I do not own _Final Fantasy VII_, or any of the characters or concepts within. I do own this storyline.

A/N: In which more bad things happen to Yuffie and AVALANCHE find that they still have a great deal to fight for.

**Chapter Three**

_There's always something tearing you apart _

_It's always so much longer than you counted on_

_And it hits you so much harder than you thought_

_But you don't worry, you don't worry_

_You got soul_

-- "Soul", Matchbox 20

Yuffie could hardly hide her relief when she finally crawled onto the shore near Midgar. She just lay there for a few minutes, waiting for her nausea to subside, and then rolled over onto her back, squinting up at Cid and Tifa. The dark-haired woman looked down at her sympathetically.

"You'll be all right in a few minutes, Yuffie."

Tifa's eyes focused on the broken city of Midgar. In the same breath she felt seething, burning hatred for the place, and a heart-breaking sorrow. It had been her home for so long that to see it destroyed was a physical blow for her. Her lips tightened as her back twinged resentfully.

Shera ran her fingertips lightly across her neatly tied hair. Wisps had come loose on the way from the north continent, brushing her cheeks and nose softly and tickling her in the breeze. She looked at the rag-tag group they made on the beach, and smiled. She was so glad that Cid had come back alive. She'd been so afraid of losing him. She smiled at the captain's back, a warm glow spreading through her. He was far too stubborn to just lie down and die, anyway.

"Shall we go? Marlene's waiting."

Yuffie rolled to her feet and gave the mechanic a weak sort of smile and a thumbs up. She still looked like she was about to toss her cookies all over their shoes. But when Yuffie said she was good to go, she was generally good to go, even if she was roughly the same colour as the feathers on a green Chocobo.

It only took them about an hour to reach the outskirts of Midgar. It looked much worse up close, and it stank of smoke and poison and old death. Red wrinkled his nose as he prowled the slums, glancing back and forth as though worried by shadows. Yuffie sort of understood how he felt. She ruffled his mane gently and grinned when he scowled at her, as much as giant lion-dog-things could scowl. Red seemed to manage quite admirably.

Barret seemed to feel more at home in the slums. He wasn't quite as unsteady as he had been outside the city, on unfamiliar ground. Here, it was as though he knew the earth beneath his feet well enough to find his way home, drunk, dazed and blindfolded. Under the circumstances, it was just as well. The slums looked as though they had been tipped upside down and shaken. Barret and Shera headed the group's trek to Sector 5, though how they could find their way through the mess was beyond Yuffie. Tifa, too, seemed at the same time happy and annoyed to be back in the slums. Yuffie could understand that as well – in the same breath, she both loved and loathed Wutai. Although, to be fair, she only really hated the changes that her father had wrought in the name of modernisation and accommodating the Shinra, hated that the town had lost so much, and loved what little remained of it. She sighed softly and kicked out at a twisted clump of metal in annoyance. She didn't want to think about what her father would have to say about this.

Losing her voice would be a great battle wound. Something her people would honour her living through. But she could never be a great leader without a voice. It just wasn't possible. And even if she had someone to speak for her... it just wouldn't work. The words could be written down, but never spoken the way she would speak them. There would be no real meaning in words read out by someone else. She observed the seemingly empty slums with a glum expression.

It came as a great relief to all of them when they emerged into the cleaner air of Elmyra's property on the outskirts of Sector 5. Barret paused for a moment to gulp in a lungful of pure, clean air and then made a beeline for the front door, shouting for his daughter. There was a commotion and the sound of thudding feet on the stairs and then the door was thrown wide. Reeve made a small sound of surprise at Barret's scarred face and got hastily out of his way. "Uh! Come on in, I mean, uh…" The sound of the Shinra executive's voice made Barret scowl darkly, but he managed to restrain himself.

"Where's Marlene?" He demanded. Reeve gulped.

"She's upstairs, having a rest." He mumbled. Barret stormed inside, brushing pieces of furniture aside as though they were made of balsa wood. Reeve peered out at the rest of AVALANCHE, who were regarding him with slightly distasteful expressions and Shera, who was smiling slightly. One hand was clamped tightly onto Cid's forearm. Reeve cleared his throat. "Ah… come inside, why doncha?" He said rather nervously. Then he steeled himself. "Marlene's upstairs and she has something she needs to tell you all."

------------

Five minutes later they were all crammed into the bedroom that had once been Aeris'. Tifa was squeezed next to Marlene on the bed with Barret taking up most of the rest of it. The little girl seemed pale and vague but she had recognised her papa at once and lifted her hands up to him in greeting. Barret pulled her into his lap and held her tightly for a while, then let her lie back on the bed. Tifa's eyes widened and she held Marlene's tiny hand and her breath. Barret couldn't see her eyes, but Tifa sure as hell could.

They had shifted subtly to a bright green. Marlene had never once in her life had green eyes – they'd always been a warm, gorgeous cinnamon brown. Now they were a cool, soothing green as though the Lifestream had washed into her skull through her ears. She heard the rustle of worry and discontent sweep around the room as Marlene sat up calmly.

"Hi everyone. I don't have much time, so I need to explain this to you quickly. Questions can wait."

The little girl's voice did not match the words and Barret stiffened immediately, his fist clenching in his lap. Marlene settled herself comfortably with both hands resting demurely in her lap.

"First of all, the Planet is still in danger. Holy took care of Meteor, but since Jenova was enveloped by the Lifestream when it erupted, she merged with it and is now in the process of taking over the Planet's functions through the Lifestream." Marlene's voice was quick and breathy, as though she was trying to get as much out as possible in a set time limit. "Jenova did not infect you when the Lifestream pushed you out of the Crater because she hadn't merged with the Lifestream at that time. But you'll need to get Marlene to the City of the Ancients as fast as you can because she might have a chance of activating the Cetra's secret weapon against Jenova."

Barret's jaw had slackened and his face had paled. "How are you doing this? Who are you?"

Marlene's face smiled sympathetically and she touched a hand to his shoulder. "Barret, it's me – it's Aeris. Do you remember when Dyne said that he could hear Eleanor? Remember? It was because Eleanor was an Ancient, too. I can speak through Marlene like this because of that."

Tifa's breath caught in her throat. She twisted too quickly and let out a gasp of pain, tears stinging her eyes, but she couldn't keep silent. "Aeris! Aeris, what about Cloud? What happened to Cloud?" Her voice tore at her throat. Those calm green eyes turned to her slowly.

"Cloud… Cloud is…" Marlene's body took a shaky breath. "Cloud isn't here with me. He can't rest because Jenova will not allow it. He isn't here." Tifa let out a low sound of despair and sagged against the bed head.

"No…"

From the corner of the room, Vincent looked up from his claw. "Aeris… how are we supposed to defeat Jenova now? We are at a grave disadvantage."

Marlene nodded once sadly. "More than you know. The Planet can no longer support the use of materia. Humans can no longer use them. But Jenova doesn't want their power to fade. She wants to take back the power of the materia and use it to obliterate this planet and the work of the Cetra." Marlene's high, girlish voice shook with barely suppressed rage. "Her most powerful child has been unleashed upon the world to collect materia and it will stop at nothing to serve her will."

Marlene's eyes widened suddenly and brown overtook the green. She fell back into the pillow as Tifa exclaimed, "Aeris!" and Barret immediately countered with "Marlene!"

Yuffie's eyes had widened and she exhaled in a sharp rush of air, clutching at her throat as though willing words to come out. Vincent's eyes flicked to her at once but only Reeve seemed to understand the source of her concern.

"Ah… Yuffie, I should have… should've told you earlier." He mumbled. "I got reports… that monster she's talking about… it took out Wutai early yesterday morning. No survivors. I'm sorry…"

Yuffie didn't seem to be hearing him any more. She had gone dreadfully still, all colour draining slowly from her face as though the life had gone from her. She raised both hands to cover her face and collapsed suddenly to her knees, shaking convulsively. She was making a disturbing hissing sound. Tifa stared at her blankly trying to work out what it was until part of her mind finally registered that this was what screaming was like without sound.

Reeve shifted uncomfortably as Cid glared at him, but there had been no better way to say it and they all knew that. There was no point in trying to comfort the ninja, either – nothing they could do or say would help anyone. Still, Shera knelt beside the girl and put one hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

Yuffie had stopped screaming by this point and was staring blankly into the distance, her hands having fallen from her face to clutch at the neck of her green shirt. She took several deep breaths and a change was wrought in her. Her eyes practically flamed with wrath despite the tears still coursing down her cheeks and her mouth was tugged savagely downward in a grimace they all knew too well as a very bad sign. She brushed Shera away impatiently, her breathing still harsh, and took a small dagger from her belt. Vincent made a small sound of protest and darted forward to snatch it from her hand. "No!"

She fended him off easily and glared at him, eyes brimming with tears not yet shed. Vincent seemed to slow suddenly mid-step. He sank quietly to kneel next to her, frowning at her intently. "What are you…?"

Yuffie calmly held out the knife and savagely carved a series of symbols into the wooden floor. Vincent's lips moved and his brows dipped to become briefly visible before retreating to their hiding place behind his bandanna. Yuffie sheathed her knife calmly and stood, fists clenched at her sides. Tifa stared at the markings intently and deciphering no meaning turned to Vincent.

"What did she…?"

Vincent's eyes were serious. "'I'll kill Jenova and all the garbage she's given birth to'," he translated. "'I will go alone if I must'." His mouth curved into what looked suspiciously like a smile then. "Ch'. Of course you won't."

Yuffie nodded, satisfied, but her grey eyes were still like molten metal. Tifa got to her feet carefully and stared around the room determinedly. "Well I'm going." She said firmly. "There's no way that anything could stop me. I won't rest until Cloud does!" She slammed her fist into the opposite palm with a loud smacking sound and her eyes narrowed as her back twinged in complaint.

Barret made a sound of distaste. "That monster's gonna destroy the work of the Cetra, so it's gonna try t' hurt my baby, too. There ain't a thing on this Planet or offa it that could stop me from goin'!"

Red glanced about with his golden eye and said, "I'm not going to let anything hurt Cosmo Canyon." His voice was slow and deliberate. Cid nodded suddenly.

"Damn straight. That #$% thinks she can come and destroy everything, she's got another thing comin' – and that's the Venus Gospel, right where no one wants it!" He declared harshly, punching the air victoriously. Shera nodded, eyes sad but determined.

"I'll do what I can." She whispered.

Reeve nodded in apparent satisfaction and gave a slight cough. "Right, so, shall we let Miss Marlene get some rest? I'd say we need a plan of action."

They filed slowly from the room, leaving Barret on the end of the bed. He sat for a moment, then leaned over to kiss his sleeping daughter's forehead and retreated, turning off the light and closing the door silently behind him.

-------------

"We have to get to the City of the Ancients with Marlene as soon as possible." Reeve said plainly. "But we also have to try and keep Jenova and that monster away from her until we have an advantage."

"So what do we do?" Tifa wondered aloud. "Just head north? And how are we supposed to distract the monster?"

"I've been thinking about that." Reeve said with a slight grin. "Since it hunts materia, the only thing to do is to gather all the materia we can into the one area and try to hurt it badly when it gets there."

Cid nodded approvingly. "Good idea. But you can't use mako-powered weapons any more, so what are you going to do?"

Reeve smiled darkly. "Funny thing is, weapons were a lot more nastily destructive before we discovered mako and put it to use. We've got more than a few old relics sitting around that I'm sure will be very useful in this case."

Cid nodded thoughtfully, eyes narrowing. "If Jenova knows about Marlene, she knows it'll be best for us to take a direct route. So we should probably go cross-country and then head north."

"All right." Reeve agreed, unrolling a map that he had, for reasons best known to himself, stowed in his jacket pocket. "So head south first to Junon then skedaddle over to Costa del Sol and then north from there?"

"Sounds about right." Cid agreed.

Tifa made a slight motion with her hands and gave the pair an exasperated look. "I think you're forgetting about the timeframe we have, here. I say we go east to the Chocobo Ranch and cast off from the north shore. If we really need to, we could go as far as Round Island."

Cid pshawed. "Let's just go to that little stretch north of Kalm and island hop, then." This was met with approval from Reeve and Tifa. "_But_ let's island hop _west_ for a while on Chocobos. Then we'll double back. Shera can meet us in the Tiny Bronco east of Corel and we'll go from there."

"Done." Reeve replied, pleased. "And that means I'll have to keep the materia as far away from you as possible. Which leaves me with…" He puzzled over his map for a few moments, muttering under his breath. Yuffie flung herself across the table and tapped a spot on the map pointedly – Wutai. Reeve grimaced. "Yuffie, you don't want me to do that…"

Yuffie gave him a look and brandished a sheet of paper at him. She scribbled down a whole bunch of characters, and then delivered the thing to Vincent. The red caped man stared for a few minutes, leaned back in his chair and frowned at the paper for a little while. Then he said, "She says that there's no point destroying anywhere else and that because of the tourism there'll be a lot of unused transport, so you can get as much materia there as possible in the shortest amount of time." He gave Yuffie a brief look of exasperation and said, "And she wants you to make the dancing ninja figurines burn. Buuuuuurn." This he somehow managed to say with a completely straight face.

Yuffie made expansive motions with her hands. And held one finger in the air. With a long, eerie whistle, she brought her finger to the tabletop, and then imitated a large explosion. Reeve couldn't help but chuckle.

"Right, well. Ninja figurines – napalm. Gotcha." He made pretence of scribbling it down for consideration. Yuffie gave him an overly cheerful thumbs-up and slid back into her seat.

------------

A/N: Next chapter, the team gets a move on. I drew a map in Paint the other day of where they were headed – it's a doozy. Please review.


	5. Chapter Four

Disclaimer: I do not own _Final Fantasy VII_ or any of the characters or concepts within. I do own this storyline.

A/N: Sorry about the long wait, folks. At least it's a long chapter, right? ;;

**Chapter Four**

In the early morning, AVALANCHE stood silhouetted against the peach-purple sky beside their Chocobos. Elmyra had walked with them out to the edge of Midgar, leading Barret tentatively through the rubble by his gun arm. Marlene, wrapped in a waffle blanket, was clutched tightly in his good arm, her pale face resting on his bare shoulder.

It was cool in the grasslands surrounding the mechanised city. Tifa's bare arms prickled with goosebumps as she waited for Yuffie to tie Barret and Marlene to Boco, and Vincent to Obsydia. Finally the ninja clambered onto the black Chocobo in front of Vincent and gave Tifa the thumbs-up.

Tifa said, "Let's go."

The phalanx of Chocobos started off across the plains, heading north-east towards Kalm. Red loped easily ahead of the group, doubling back after he had taken care of a number of monsters in the immediate area. The creatures usually weren't focused enough to try to catch a Chocobo, but there was no reason to chance an encounter. They needed to hurry.

Secretly, Tifa was afraid that even with the relatively weak fiends in the grasslands, she would be useless to the team. The injuries she had taken in the Crater hadn't improved - the twinge in her back was worsening, she was sure. She couldn't move freely without debilitating pain, and since materia wouldn't retain its power for long…

Tifa's wine red eyes darkened miserably and she urged Brandy, the gold she'd borrowed from Rude, on a little faster. She couldn't think like that, or she'd just convince herself of its truth. She had to be positive. She had to be.

She was distracted by an alarmed sounding roar from up ahead. Her eyes snapped back up to scan the landscape and in the distance she saw Red XIII, surrounded by three of the grasslands' weaker monsters… and losing. She kicked Brandy into high speed and let out grunt of pain as the jolting motion jarred her back. She didn't slow the bird down.

Behind her thundered Cid, Yuffie and Vincent. The old pilot readied the Venus Gospel for a use as Vincent did his best to aim down the barrel of the Death Penalty using only his claw. Tifa briefly saw Yuffie head-butt the man lightly in disapproval before the Conformer, making a sound like a rotor, went flying out ahead of them all in a colourful arc of deadly blades. One fiend crashed to the ground with a startled honking sound, then struggled to its feet again as the Conformer returned to Yuffie's hand. Red leaped on the creature from behind and worried at its neck, making it roar out in pain before finally collapsing in a boneless heap.

Tifa paled. There was no reason one blow shouldn't have killed the creature instantly. What exactly where they dealing with, here? Her hand went halfway to her materia pouch before she remembered that she'd have to stop relying on the stones. Whatever happened to old-fashioned fighting, bereft of magical aid?

_Went out the window along with my spine,_ thought Tifa as she swung herself off Brandy, rather more heavily than she had intended. Red backed towards his friends as the Chocobos skidded to a halt. Cid charged into the battle holding the Venus Gospel like a lance. He speared a second fiend directly through the neck and then slammed the spear tip-first into the ground. The pinned monster screamed and splattered blood everywhere as it convulsed. The old pilot circled back and wrenched his favourite weapon out of the dead monster before succumbing to a brief bout of coughing.

Yuffie turned as though to run away, leaned forward to clasp Obsydia's neck, then swung herself off the Chocobo, using the bird's neck as a fireman's pole to get the height and speed she needed to deliver a killing blow with the Conformer. Her mouth was open in a silent battle cry as she drove the shuriken through the monster's ribcage. It roared and swatted at her. The girl went flying, leaving her weapon protruding from the beast's chest. Tifa gasped as she crashed to the ground and ran sideways to try to help her.

"OUTTA THE WAY!" Barret roared suddenly.

Marlene, eyes narrowed fiercely, glinting with tears for her Aunt Yuffie, steadied his arm. "Fire!" She whispered. Barret emptied a clip into the fiend (and, admittedly, the air around it) and it collapsed to the ground with one final defiant roar. The black man took a deep, shuddering breath and clasped Marlene to him gently as she tried to dismount.

"Stay on Boco, darlin'…"

Tifa helped Yuffie to her feet as the ninja winced. "It's all right, Marlene, Yuffie's fine." Yuffie gave Tifa a look that said, _that's a new word for it_, but dusted herself off cheerfully and gave the little girl a smile. She sidled up to the fiend and kicked at it until she could remove her Conformer from the creature's ribcage. She tugged at it fruitlessly for a while before giving the fiend one final kick – the shuriken sprung from the flesh as if stung, and Yuffie went flying backwards.

She landed cradling the blade and checked it thoroughly before she stood up. As she'd suspected, Barret's little barrage had dented it in several places. She pouted. She'd love to be able to say something snide right now. She glanced at Vincent, who was struggling to put the Death Penalty away now that he'd wrestled it out with his claw, and decided not to bother asking. She wasn't about to make him her personal translator just so she could taunt Barret.

"Hey, man, I think your aim's improved a little!" The pilot chuckled, laying a steadying hand on Barret's shoulder. A smile crossed Yuffie's face. That was what Cid was for. The bear-like man snorted.

"You better watch your mouth, foo'." He responded automatically, voice a deep growl. Everyone could tell it made him feel better to be teased as though nothing had changed.

Even though everything had.

After that they encountered fiend after fiend, each stronger than the last. By the time they'd reached the north coast, Yuffie was sore and gasping, the Conformer stained with blood that wouldn't be removed just by wiping it against the grass. Tifa was feeling her uselessness even more, particularly since the Restore materia was beginning to fade. It was a little past noon when they reached the beach and found Shera waiting there for them. She waved a PHS at them.

"I beat you by an hour or so. I've been looking at the best way to island-hop." She spread out an extremely rough but generally accurate map on the sand and pointed to a rough route she'd marked in pencil. "We want to pass just north of Costa del Sol, then head out across the north-east of the continent for a while, then head north-north-east until we make it to the North Continent." She squinted up at her captive audience. "Shouldn't take more than… three days, if we hurry."

"Sounds good," Cid agreed, running a finger along their prescribed route. "If we leave now, we might be able to make the Costa by nightfall." He tapped the map pointedly and grinned at his live-in mechanic. "You'll have to make room for Red but we're all good to go on Chocobo."

Shera tilted her head at that. "Yes, about that… where did you get the scruffy-looking black and the other gold?" She inquired, puzzled. "It's not one of ours…" Cid coughed lightly, then a little more at the irritation he'd provided his touchy throat.

"Yeah, well, Reeve got the Turks to lend us their birds… this one's Duster." He gestured to the black, who preened, with one hand.

Shera giggled at the name. "Suits him. Anyway, if you're all ready to go…?"

Yuffie sighed and swung herself reluctantly back onto Obsydia. At least there were no fiends in the water. She could rest a little, at least until they reached the next continent. With this in mind, she wrapped the reins carefully around the fingers of Vincent's claw and settled back against his shoulder, tapping out a lazily punctuated message on the bronze metal.

_Poke me if ya need me_.

So saying – in a manner of speaking (A/N: Oh gods, make me stop.) – she tugged the Conformer to lie flat against her thigh and closed her eyes.

- - - - - - - - - -

Vincent didn't so much steer as try to prevent Obsydia's reins from slipping from his claw altogether. He was somewhat more occupied with the fact that Yuffie actually appeared to be sleeping on the galloping Chocobo. Her flesh seemed to mould perfectly to his as they rode, and he wasn't sure whether this had to do with her utter relaxation, some ninja balance technique or something else entirely. It certainly had nothing to do with his attempts to hold her in place with the elbow joint of his claw.

They rode on the left flank of the Tiny Bronco, which headed the formation. The Chocobos were spread in a loose bracket with Obsydia and Brandy just behind the small aircraft's wingtips and Cid holding tightly to Boco's halter from Duster's back. After the first hour of travel, Barret and Marlene had opted to ride in the Bronco with Shera and Red. (Cloud had, most unfortunately, trained Boco in the art of skimming down the waves rather than merely running across them. The results were not pleasant for Barret and Marlene, who preferred to stay dry.)

The Bronco veered towards a large island with a small forest at its centre and Vincent was grateful when 'Sydia followed the craft rather than his fruitless attempts at steering. He shifted Yuffie slightly between his knees and wondered if the burn of eyes at his back was merely of his imagining. Just in case, he carefully extended one bronze digit to poke Yuffie in the ribs and immediately dropped the reins.

They slithered lightning fast across Yuffie's thigh. Vincent knew it was useless to grab at them – he'd only stab his friend – but Yuffie wasn't a ninja for nothing. Her hand snapped out and grabbed the leather straps, wrapping them twice automatically before her eyes even opened. She stared at her hand a little blankly and then tilted her head to look at Vincent.

Droplets of salt water glistened on her up-turned cheeks, clumping her eyelashes together in wet spikes of darkness. Vincent hadn't realised how much water Obsydia's clawed feet crashing through the waves kicked up until that moment. Nor had he realised how much he would miss the loud and immediate complaint that normally arose whenever Yuffie suffered through an unwanted awakening.

"They slipped," he muttered, referring to the reins. Yuffie merely blinked at him, then twisted back towards the Tiny Bronco, eyes scanning their surroundings. The Conformer was raised slightly from her thigh, now, cocked at the ready in case anything should surprise them. Vincent sighed and frowned slightly – he hadn't realised he'd been holding his breath. Shaking off the puzzlement he said, "We'll rest on that island."

Yuffie nodded once and yawned, tapping out a rather long message on his claw. Vincent had to close his eyes to gather the minute sounds into words over Obsydia's feet ploughing through the sea. _You'll rest, you mean. I'll have to start saving your butts all over again._

Vincent knew she intended it as a joke, but he could not take it as such. What were they to do when the ninja's so-called boundless energy ran out? When the materia failed? When Tifa's back finally gave in, when Cid succumbed to the tar coating his lungs, when Vincent couldn't even lift his claw in defence any more…?

As though sensing his thoughts, Yuffie elbowed him sharply in the ribs and struck a new message against his artificial forearm.

_Think happy thoughts, monster man._

Vincent was struck with the bizarre and morbid urge to laugh at that. Happy thoughts? And if he clapped his hands hard enough, would Aeris come back? Would Cloud?

Yuffie smiled as she felt Vincent bend to rest his forehead against her shoulder. She could not have guessed that he had not been mollified, only further disturbed by her command. She could not have guessed his thoughts were on the senselessness of needing to clap when one no longer had hands.

- - - - - - - - - -

Tifa swung herself from Brandy with a wince, wishing her damn back wasn't quite so touchy. Maybe once all this was over and done with, she'd spend some time in the little hot-spring town in the mountains on the east coast of Wutai, persuading her muscles to heal. Or, she remembered with a grimace and a sigh, she could go help them clean up the little hot-spring town in the mountains after the Jenova-creature's attack. _Then_ she could settle down and let her muscles knit themselves back together properly. The way things were, every time she moved she could feel tiny tugs of wrongness in the flesh that certainly hadn't been there before. It was kind of odd, she thought, leading Brandy through the sand, because the first time Sephiroth sliced her, she'd healed just fine. It had been a clean wound. This one…

Tifa tugged at Brandy's reins and moved a little faster, trying to get onto stable ground that didn't make her walk so unsteady and painful. This wound she'd received hadn't healed well at all. Maybe it was just a quality of Lifestream therapy, maybe it was because it really had been a deathblow this time or maybe Sephiroth's style had changed in five years. Who knew? It wouldn't do her any good to worry about it, anyway. She put the wound resolutely from her mind as she made it onto thicker Spinifex grass and the ground became a little more solid.

Cid was the next to hit land, riding Duster a little way up the beach and practically flinging Boco's reign's away from him in disgust. "Just 'cause you're the oldest doesn't mean you get to splash me, y' darn bird." The gold warked cheekily and trotted away up the beach in search of food. Cid rolled his eyes at Tifa, who smiled despite herself, and dismounted Duster to help first Shera and then Marlene and Barret from the Tiny Bronco. The bear-like man stumbled in the sand, flinging out the Missing Score to catch himself (unfortunately) on the Bronco's wing. Cid let out a squawk of dismay and bent double, coughing hard and trying to curse Barret black and blue at the same time. Red jumped down from the small plane and padded past them, blissfully unable to hear Cid's attempts to profane the air around him.

Tifa turned burgundy eyes to watch the other black Chocobo reach the shore, frowning in concern at the unsteady way Vincent seemed to sway as soon as Obsydia's step changed to compensate for the fact that she was walking on sand, not water. Poor Vincent was really suffering from the loss of his other arm – he couldn't steady himself without running the risk of harming something or someone else. _At least my injury is fairly harmless to everyone else…_ In fact, she thought with a frown, Vincent's is really the only thing that could hurt any of us directly. The rest of us might not be able to defend or attack as well as we used to, but Vincent's the only one who really can't risk doing much of anything because of what any normal movement might do to another person.

Tifa had a sudden, vivid image of her father's body on the grating in the Mt Nibel reactor, blood spreading slickly along the twists of metal before they lost the battle with gravity and plummeted to briefly stain the surface of the refined mako below… She shivered and rubbed at her arms in a vain attempt to warm not her body but her soul. The scream of a Chocobo broke her reverie and ceased all attempts to do that.

Boco bolted from the woods in the middle of the island, wings flapping frantically and uselessly at his sides. He dashed straight past Tifa, warking shrilly, and the rest of the Chocobos milled uncertainly for a moment and then stampeded for deeper water. Vincent, for once in his life, let out a startled cry as Obsydia twisted in the sand and made to run. Yuffie pulled her up short and wheeled her about to face the forest, grey eyes wide and mouth slightly open, panting raggedly with the effort of controlling the powerful bird. Obsydia's crest had perked slightly and she regarded the forest with nervous suspicion, shifting her weight from one clawed foot to the other. The movement probably would have unseated Vincent had not Yuffie's knots been in place. As it was the ninja's mouth set in a grim line and, hardly daring to put down the Conformer, she tied the reins to the gunman's claw and slid from the Chocobo.

Vincent said, "Yuffie, what are you doing? If you untie me, I can help."

Yuffie shook her head, concentrating on the forest, and gestured to her ears. Vincent leaned back far enough that Obsydia understood she was to stand still, listened intently and understood. Too late to untie him – they were already here. He could hear the predatory grunts and growls, the shambling progress of the fiends through the forest punctuated by the snap of broken branches and the creak-and-crash of trees uprooted. He glanced around and gestured to Tifa.

"Untie me," he said softly. "She will need help."

Tifa started to retort, but stopped herself and called to Shera, "Get back in the Bronco – Barret can provide cover fire from offshore if you aim for him! Cid, help Yuffie!" The brunette spent a few moments tugging futilely at the ropes before Vincent let out a hissing breath through his teeth.

"In my boot there's a knife. Hurry."

The first of the monsters broke the tree line. It looked like nothing they had seen before, a mishmash of appendages bulging from a body the size of a Chocobo. It flickered a forked tongue at Yuffie, who crouched a little lower in preparation, and wide golden eyes narrowed to slits. It surged forth from the trees as Tifa cut right through the large knot at Vincent's hip and the gunman slid to the ground. The reins slid up over his bionic forearm and were shredded by the blades he called fingers. As Yuffie leaped forward to intercept the monster's blow and launch a counter-attack, Obsydia ran to join the other Chocobos in deeper water and Vincent glanced at Tifa.

"Keep us alive," he said tersely, and darted forth to join the battle as two more monsters emerged from the forest.

- - - - - - - - - -

Marlene pressed her face right up against the window of the Bronco as Shera struggled to steer and guide Barret's aim at the same time. The woman's toffee-blond hair was in her eyes as she yelled, "A little higher! Steady…! Steady…!"

The tiny craft moved in closer to the shore and Marlene's brown eyes started to water. She was scared. Her daddy was supposed to be invincible, but he couldn't see any more and she was scared. The Bronco swerved and bucked wildly in the water and Barret bared his teeth and swore, very softly.

"Just a little higher again, that put you off a little… and…" Shera steadied the Bronco, leaned back and said, "FIRE!" The Missing Score boomed and spat and rattled the bones of everyone aboard the Tiny Bronco and when Shera yelled, "STOP!" her ears were ringing. She took a deep breath and started to talk again, louder than the engine and the hollow whine of shell shock in her ears. "I'm gonna swing around – move over to the other door and we'll go again!"

On the shore, the monster Vincent was fighting with claws and not yet teeth had sagged sideways, snapping the trunk of a beach pine and sending the tree directly at another of the fiends. Yuffie took advantage of the distraction and ran right up close to the first monster as Vincent moved to help Cid and Red with their own slightly smaller but much faster Jenova-creature.

Marlene closed her eyes and when she opened them, they were green. She spoke softly and her voice was sad.

"Those are Jenova mutations. Like the larger monster, they are searching for materia. The more materia Jenova absorbs, the more control of the Planet she will have. We can't let her have the materia."

Shera glanced back, blue eyes shining with determination, and nodded once at the little girl who was not a little girl for the time being.

"All right, Ms Aeris. We will." She turned back to the wheel of the Bronco as Barret staggered to brace himself in the opposite hatch of the small plane. "AIM! STEADY…! FIRE!"

- - - - - - - - - -

Afterwards, Yuffie collapsed onto sand stained a dark, evil fuchsia and gasped for breath and for the pain in her shoulder – a blow from the creature she'd been fighting had made her arm-guard utterly worthless. She stared upward, taking deep, steadying breaths, and thought it was more than a little unfair for the sky to be so perfectly beautiful when the fate of the world was at stake.

She heard the Bronco motor cautiously back toward them, heard the hull grate against the sand as it ran up a little way onto the beach, and then Vincent invaded her view of the perfect sky. He regarded her silently for a moment and reluctantly offered her his bloodied, gory claw. She grinned and grabbed it, even though she wasn't quite ready to sit up yet. She knew Vincent too well after all their 'adventuring' – if she hadn't taken the claw, he'd probably never have offered it to her again. Not only that, he'd have been even more mopey and depressed than usual, and that was something Yuffie didn't want to see (though she did think it would be kinda impossible for the man to get further into the dumps that he already was, sometimes).

Once up, she could see a fair bit more than just the irritatingly blue sky. She could see Barret with Marlene cuddled tight to his chest and Shera talking quietly but animatedly to Cid and Tifa and Red, who was padding towards them. Yuffie dropped the Conformer point-first into the sand and opened her arms – Red walked into them calmly and sat down.

There were no words exchanged then, but they both knew exactly what would have been said if there had been.

"_Oh Red, you look all sexy when you're bloodied up and stuff! Can I smear this over your shoulder a bit more? I want it to half-cover your tats."_

"_I don't think that's very hygienic, Yuffie. What if it's poisonous, or acidic?"_

"_I don't see you melting, kitty-cat – but I wasn't gonna _lick_ you."_ A delighted, teasing laugh would have followed. "_Unless ya want me to…"_

A sigh. _"…Yuffie…"_

"_Ooh, yo mama gonna _lick_ ya'll clean!"_

Vincent stood watching the not-conversation, half expecting Yuffie to stick out her tongue to see just how far she could push the lion-like creature before he gave and moved away. Red, as though operating on a similar imagined conversation, snorted, butted Yuffie's head in affectionate dismissal, and bounded towards the waves to rinse the blood from his face and paws without ingesting sand.

Yuffie rocked to her feet and, noticing the expression on Vincent's face, stuck out her tongue. He blinked. She grinned again and sashayed toward the others. Tifa turned to her with a Hi-Potion in one hand. Yuffie 'sculled' as the older woman beckoned to Vincent.

"Apparently Aeris told them that it's not just the big monster that's collecting materia, it's all Jenova mutations," Tifa explained. "What we need to do is keep as much materia away from her as possible, because the more she absorbs, the more of the Planet's core she controls."

Barret grunted and bent to put Marlene down. The girl sat on the sand and stared at them, digging her hands into the sand. As she did so, her eyes frosted slowly from cinnamon brown to mint green.

"Playing keep-away won't work forever. Sooner or later, Jenova will realise she has strong enough ties to most of you to track your progress."

Tifa stared at the little girl, channelling Aeris, and crouched in the sand. "What do you mean?" Marlene's face tightened in concern.

"You, Red, Vincent… you've all been injected with Jenova cells at one time or another. Tifa, when you were recovering from the incident in Nibelheim… Red, in Hojo's lab… Vincent…" She trailed off as Vincent stared somewhat accusingly at his claw. "It's what allowed Jenova to have a stronger affect on your minds. She can trace your movements using that same influence."

Tifa's eyes widened a little in understanding and she rocked back on her heels to sit down in the sand. "What are we going to do?" She muttered to herself. "We can't risk letting Jenova know your movements, Aeris… but…" She bit her lip and glanced up at Cid. The old pilot shrugged and hefted the Venus Gospel meaningfully.

"Well, I s'pose we could split up. That wouldn't solve our materia problem, though. Fact, it'd probably make it easier for Jenova, unless we all went by s—" He paused and his steel blue eyes narrowed a little, the hint of a plan glimmering in them. Tifa waited patiently. Yuffie stomped her foot. Cid glared at her and adjusted his goggles.

"Look, I'm not sayin' I want us to split… that ain't it at all… but, if someone went in a totally different direction with the materia – it's useless to us anyway, right? So…" He blew out a breath and went on quickly. "So, what I'm saying is, Tifa – you and Red should take the Bronco and the materia we brought with us and head south. You can go past Junon and the guys there can get the materia to Reeve's little ground zero in Wutai, right? And at the same time, you'd be pretty much safe from fiends and leading Jenova astray because you're in the middle of the ocean, right?" He glanced around to see what the rest of AVALANCHE thought and was gratified to see Vincent nodding slowly.

Tifa nodded wearily. "That makes sense, I guess. I'm really no use on land any more, anyway." Before any of them could have leaped in to deny what was obviously true, but hurtful, she continued. "Red and I can take the Bronco south and meet you in the Ancient City, then. It should take us about the same time – the Bronco is faster than a Chocobo, and we won't be weaving as much."

Cid nodded. Shera sighed and patted Red on the head. "You must be getting tired of people making decisions without you just because you can't hear them," she told him sympathetically. Red blinked his golden eye at her once and then turned his attention back to the Chocobos, who were only now venturing ashore. Shera smiled.

They rested for only a short while after that, concerned with the imagined approach of Jenova's mutated fiends. Supplies were rearranged; materia was exchanged (though Yuffie refused to give up her mastered Leviathan) and Cid bid a tearful farewell to the Tiny Bronco. As Tifa manoeuvred the small plane off the sand, Yuffie discovered what had become of her knot-work and spent a few minutes wrestling Vincent to the ground in order to sit on his back (and his claw arm) and rip most of his cloak into a _new_ rope. She then took the small knife that Tifa had used to cut the ropes and flung it out into the ocean, much to Vincent's dismay. He would have at least tried to retrieve it had not Yuffie made certain violent motions with her arms about sitting in Obsydia's goddamn saddle and being tied in _or else_ – as it was, he didn't want any more of his limbs to go missing 'mysteriously' in the night.

- - - - - - - - - -

A/N: It's probably severely detrimental to the serious nature of the storyline to throw in paragraphs like that. Oh well. I enjoy random humour. Please tell me what you think of this fic, as it's kind of a new style of fic for me…


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